The Federal Communications Commission is poised to impose limits on how much companies can charge inmates for phone calls.
The FCC is scheduled to vote Friday on an issue that inmates’ families asked it to address a decade ago.
The vote is on a proposal by Acting FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn to limit charges to 21 cents a minute for debit or prepaid calls and 25 cents a minute for collect calls. Clyburn says the limits are conservative.
The rates for inmates’ phone calls have varied widely. In some cases, a 15-minute call has cost $17 and additional fees have been tacked on. Families usually end up paying the bills. Other restrictions are being proposed.
Providers and some law enforcement officials have opposed rate caps.
(AP)
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4 Responses
the FCC should look into why we pay some of the highest cell phone and Internet fees in the world.
2hotinPhx: We don’t. We pay some of the lowest cell phone and Internet fees in the world.
They should address all the taxes and fees that increase the phone bill by 25% for all citizens, before worrying about the cost of perps’ calls.
Also, a simple Google search shows that US cellphone rates are in the mid to high category and our text rates are perhaps the highest.
Rebbe Yid: Our cell rates are among the lowest. Outside the U.S. almost all countries charge callers from non-cellphones (or from cellphones) extra to call cellphones. That charge doesn’t exist in the U.S., and we have among the lowest rates.